Mechanically-operated piano.



F. vsRm-"m- MEGHANIGALLY OPERATED PIANO APPLICATION EIL ED TEE. 7, 1910.

Patented July 19,

UNITED STATES PATENT orricn.

FRANK V. CROFUT, OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT, .ASSICNOR TO THE STERLING COL,OF

' DERBY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

MECHANICALLY-OPERATED PIANO.

T 0 all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK V. Cnorur, a citizen of'the United States,residing at Derby, in the county of New Haven and StateofConnecticut-,'have' invented a new and useful Improvement inMechanically- .Operated Pianos; and I do'hereby declare the following,when taken in connection with the accompanying'drawings and the lettersof reference marked thereon, to be 'a full, clear, and exact.description of, the same, and which said drawings const tute .iiart ofthis specification, and represent, 1n

Figure l a front View of a portion of a a pneumatic conductor" formechanically operated instruments embodying my invention. Fig. 2 avertical sectional view of the same, showing the upper series ofpassages open and the lower series closed. Fig. 3 a simllar view showinthe u er assa 'es closed h 111g. 4: a

switch block. Fig. 5a front View of the same illustrating he operationof the slide switches. i

This invention relates to an improvementin .11 echanicallyoperatedpianos, that is,

pianos in which mechanism adapted to be operated mechanically isarranged to play the instrument through the medium of a perforated roll.As constructed for a number of years devices of this character werearranged to play sixty-five notes, and music was written and rolls madewithin that scope. have been arranged to play eighty-eight notes, andmusic has been prepared accordingly; but obviously music written for aplayer with sixty-five actions will not operate with a roll prepared foran instrument with eighty-eight actions, and vice versa. Accordingly. ithas been necessary to arrange a tracker'with .two sets of openings toregister with the two styles of rolls, and meanshave been provided forclosing one set of openings.

The object of this'invention is a simple arrangement of means forclosing one set of openings and opening the other, and to generallysimplify the construction of the apparatus; and the invention consistsin the construction'and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafterdescribed'and particularly recited in the claims.

The operation of pneumatically operated Specification of Letters Patent.Application filed February 7, 1910. Serial No. 542,587.

More recently, however, devices Patented July 19,

pianos is so well known as not torequire illustration or descriptionhere, as the pneu ma-tics and the means of operation form no part of thepresent inventlon.

In carrying out my invention I employ the usual tracker 2 over which aperforated roll passes as it is drawn onto the winding roll 3. Thistracker is provided with alower series of perforations. 4 and an upperseries of perforations 5. The perforations 4; are like the perforationspreviously employed, being sixty-five in number, While the upper seriesare'somewhat smaller and eighty-eight in number. Notwithstanding thefact that there are more of them they are arranged closer together sothat they do not occupy as much space as did the sixty-fiveperforations. I

At a point 'in rear of the tracker is a switch block 6 having a seriesof horizontal passages: 7 which connect through tubes 8 with theperforations 1,, and with an upper series of passages 9 which connect bytubes 10 with the upper perforations 5. These,

horizontal passages 7 and 9 are connected with vertical passages 11which lead to the pn'eumatics' not shown. Mounted in the switch block 6for longitudinal movement therein is an upper slide 12 provided with aseries of perforations 13 cor-respondingin number-to the number ofpassages 9 and ar ranged to register with, orclose these passages which,it may be noted in passing, are staggered. Also mounted in the switchblock 6' is a lower slide 1 1 also mounted for longitudinal movement and-formed with perforations '15 adapted to register with or close thepassages -7. These slides or switches 12 and, 14: project beyond one endof thevswitch-block, and the switch 12 is formed with a notch 16 and the'switchql witha notch 17 to receive the opposite ends of a lever 18which may be mounted on a shaft 19 to be turned by an arm 20 through ahorizontally arranged slide 21 at some point convenient for the playerand so that by moving the slide 21 the switches or slides 12 and 14 maybe turned so as to move-one in and the other out accordingly as it isdesired to open or close the passages 7 or It will be noted that thisswitching mechanism', as it may be called, is extremely simple and lendsitself particularly to a. vent, such, for instance, as shown in PatentNo. 849,303 granted January 1, 1907, to

Q eeaeee the'assignee of this invention. Asshown; in the previous patentit-is' desirable to obtain a quick re-action'in order to sound thesame-key in rapid succession when that is desired, and particularly inthe case where the openings in the tracker are of difi'erent size it isapparent that the action of the pneumatics would vary. To overcomeanydiflicultyin the reaction, I provide a vent rail 22 which I mount onthe frame above, and in line with the switch-block 6 and in thisvent-rail I arrange a series of vertical passages 23 which are connectedwith tubes 24 with the vertical passages 11 leading tov the pneumatics.These passages 23 open into a chamber 25 which chamber communicatesthrough a pipe 26 with one of the chambers of the instrument in which anexhaust is maintained so thata constant pressure is applied to the tubes24 for the pur-v pose of exhausting the primary pneuma 'tics to assistin returning them to an operative position after a note has been struck.This vent is readily accessible so that if one of the vent holes becomesstopped, the cap 27 w of the vent may beremoved when access to registerwith said openings, and means for moving said slides horizontallywhereby when the upper passages are opened the lower'passage's will beclosed, and vice versa.

2. In a pneumatically operated instrument, the combination with atracker having two series of openings, a switch block in the rear of thetracker and formed with a series of vertical passages, upper and lowerhorizontal passages intersecting thevertical passages and connected withthe openingsin the tracker, an upper and a 7 lower switch slide mountedin the switch block and intersecting the horizontal passages therein,said slides tormed with perforations adapted to register with saidopenings, a lever arranged'between the ends of said slides and adaptedwhen turned to move one slide in and the other slide out, whereby oneseries of openings is closed and the other opened. 1

In a pneumatically operated instrument, the combination with thetracker, of

a switch block arranged in rear thereof, said switch block formed withvertical passages and with upper and lower horizontal passagesintersecting the same, said upper and lower passe es connected with thetracker, longitudinal y movable slide switches mounted in said switchblock and intersecting the horizontal passages therein and so as to openor close the same, a vent block mounted above thefswitch'block andcomprising a chamber from which air may be exhausted and passages fromsaid chamber connecting with the vertical passages in the switch block.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscrib v ing witnesses.

I F. V. CROFU'I.

Witnesses J. T. BREWSTER, J. R. MASON.

